Solar power is becoming increasingly popular throughout the United States as more and more Americans become acquainted with the vast benefits of solar energy, like reducing carbon footprints and electricity costs. As the solar industry continues to experience rapid growth, an inundation of options has made it progressively more difficult to choose the brand and model best suited for your needs.
With a solar panel’s life span considered to be 25 years or longer, it’s crucial to get the full picture of your options and look at deciding factors such as price, quality, efficiency, company risks, and customer reviews before you make such a long-lasting and transformative purchase. Here’s an overview of five of the industry’s most popular solar companies and how they stack up against each other based on these five factors.
An Overview of the Options
Despite the influx of choices, five solar manufacturers — Jinko Solar, Longi, Qcells, SunPower, and Trina Solar — continue to stand out to consumers for their top-notch products. These companies are all drivers of solar innovation and are leading the renewable energy transition with their global reach and high quality standards.
All five companies are at the forefront of the industry and produce monocrystalline solar cells through vertical integration, meaning they control all aspects of manufacturing to guarantee affordability, production transparency, and quality assurance. While these five companies share a common business model, how do their products compare?
Comparing the Competition
Price
When reviewing the price of solar panels, it’s essential to understand that the overall cost of a solar project is largely dependent on where you live, as aspects such as sunlight exposure and energy requirements are subject to local climate and weather, and will impact the scale of your project. With this in mind, each company has a national average installed price per watt for its standard model.
| Longi | Qcells | Jinko Solar | SunPower | Trina Solar |
| $2.40/watt | $2.81/watt | $2.60/watt | $3.30/watt | $2.80/watt |
While price is a significant deciding factor in purchasing solar panels, higher prices don’t necessarily reflect the highest quality and efficiency, and the same is true in reverse.
Quality
None of these industry leaders skimp on quality, but here are the facts on some of their products:
| Longi | Qcells | Jinko Solar | SunPower | Trina Solar |
| Longi is highly focused on ensuring quality throughout all stages of a product’s life cycle.
By maintaining quality throughout all stages of manufacturing, from strict material selection to rigorous reliability testing, Longi delivers high-performing products that guarantee high output for up to 25 years. |
All Qcells panels are made with a proprietary Q.ANTUM Technology to offer elevated performance and quality.
Qcells have a 25-year life span and are certified under a four-level quality protection program to ensure output of the highest caliber products.
Qcells panels have received Quality Control PV designation from the technical testing company TÜV Rheinland. |
All Jinko Solar products are responsibly made in accordance with the highest standards of quality.
The company’s flagship EAGLE modules are lined with the same material as aerospace equipment to ensure long-lasting use for more than 30 years in the harshest conditions.
Jinko Solar has been recognized as a PV Module Reliability Scorecard top performer for nine years in a row by the photovoltaic testing company PV Evolution Labs. |
With a system designed to maximize energy production by turning on earlier and turning off later than competitors, SunPower panels are produced with outstanding quality and durability in mind.
SunPower offers a 40-year product warranty, and its panels are almost four times as reliable in terms of degradation compared to conventional solar panels. |
Trina Solar is known for its strict adherence to quality, and conducts over 200 tests on each product to ensure customer satisfaction.
Trina Solar recently won the prestigious German Design Award for the aesthetic appeal of its Vertex S+ module, exemplifying its commitment to quality production and design. The company guarantees 25 years of performance for all of its modules. |
Efficiency
High efficiency is a considerable component of choosing a solar panel, as a high-efficiency model will not only lower the number of panels you need, but will decrease electricity bills and reduce your carbon footprint even further than a panel of conventional efficiency.
With the solar industry in constant competition for the highest efficiency module, here’s how the five companies stack up:
| Longi | Qcells | Jinko Solar | SunPower | Trina Solar |
| Longi offers residential modules of three different efficiencies in its Hi-MO series, with the Hi-MO 7 offering the highest efficiency at 22.6%. | Qcells offers residential modules with a range of efficiencies, with the Q.TRON M-G2+ offering the highest efficiency, at 22%. | Jinko Solar offers residential modules of three different efficiencies in its EAGLE series, with the EAGLE G6 offering the highest efficiency at 22.23%. | Sunpower’s Equinox panels boast an impressive efficiency of 22.8%. | Trina Solar offers residential modules of three different efficiencies in its Vertex S+ series, with the Vertex S+ 455W
TSM – NEG9R.28 offering the highest efficiency at 22.8%. |
Company Risks
As major manufacturing companies with production facilities around the world, it’s important to ensure firms like these five maintain a high level of corporate responsibility and avoid company and consumer risks.
With concerns that certain goods like solar panels may be produced using forced labor, the United States passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) to prohibit the import of goods made in this nature. Below is a comparison of relative exposure to UFLPA enforcement actions.
| Longi | Qcells | Jinko Solar | SunPower | Trina Solar |
| Longi has significant exposure to the UFLPA. A large portion of their panels have been excluded from importation by U.S. Customs and Board Protection the agency charged with enforcement of the UFLPA. | While Qcells has largely avoided UFLPA detentions thus far, their supply chain remains a critical threat. One of their primary suppliers has deep ties to forced labor so Qcells exposure to UFLPA remains very high. | Jinko Solar appears to have near zero risk under the UFLPA. The company has created a supply chain of low risk U.S. and European inputs and according to a recent Bloomberg article has “mostly cleared the UFLPA gauntlet”. | SunPower has moderate exposure to the UFLPA enforcement highlighted in their securities filings. The company has entered into several long term contract with domestic suppliers, which should insulate the company from significant enforcement actions. | Trina Solar has experience extension detentions under the UFLPA. In addition, the company’s supply chain remains at heightened risk of serious enforcement actions under the UFLPA. |
Customer Reviews
With these companies all adhering to such high standards of quality, efficiency, and corporate responsibility, consumer testimonials can help a brand stick out among the rest. Luckily, solarquotes.coms has thousands of reviews for each company to help you make your decision.
| Longi | Qcells | Jinko Solar | SunPower | Trina Solar |
| Rated 4.9/5 based on 1,120 reviews. | Rated 4.8/5 based on 1,259 reviews. | Rated 4.8/5 stars based on 2,920 reviews. | Rated 4.9/5 based on 980 reviews. | Rated 4.8/5 based on 2,140 reviews. |
Longi
Mike, who had a 6.6 kilowatt Longi system installed, rated Longi 5 stars and stated, “So far so good. Panels look good on the roof (not that I really care about this), and still generate enough power to make my home self-sufficient when it is overcast and stormy. We had a hailstorm a few days ago, and the panels were not damaged.”
Qcells
Clint, who had a 4 kilowatt Qcells system installed, rated Qcells 5 stars and remarked on consistent quality. “The Q cells have performed well and have consistently peaked at their upper production limit on clear sunny days. Very evenly spread across all panels bar some minor shading early morning and late in the day. Hopefully the performance continues throughout their life span.”
Jinko Solar
Ivan, who had a 10 kilowatt Jinko Solar system installed, rated Jinko 5 stars and corroborated the company’s durability, stating, “I have 13 Jinko Panels installed at my old house for 10 years — absolutely trouble free. Also, each panel generated more power (440 watts) than other brand solar panels (400 watts). So, each panel maximized more power per roof space. The Jinko Solar Panels worked very well with no issues. We have no regrets!”
SunPower
Damian, who had a 15 kilowatt Sunpower system installed, rated SunPower 5 stars and had much to say about its visual appeal: “We installed forty SunPower Performance Series All Black 410w panels with a black Clenergy mounting system. They look fabulous. We are very impressed so far. High performance and great aesthetics. They look much better than all the panels on other houses in our street. They look sleek and expensive.”
Trina Solar
Igor, who had an 8 kilowatt Trina Solar system installed, rated Trina Solar 5 stars, as the panels surpassed expectations. “They have been great! Producing energy even on cloudy days, and one day they even exceeded their claimed capacity! If it continues like this for years to come, these panels would be in the sweet spot for value and performance.”
What Brand You Should Choose
The reviews are in, and you can’t go wrong with any one of these companies. With each excelling and faltering in different decision-impacting factors, your solar choice will likely come down to the aspects of the product you value the most.
Options like Jinko Solar or Trina are perfect if you’re on a budget, but don’t want to sacrifice quality and efficiency. If you’re focused on aspects like efficiency and aesthetics and money is no issue, a company like SunPower may be the choice for you. Regardless of which solar company you go with, you can rest assured as you lighten your energy bill and carbon footprint.
